Posts Tagged ‘vampires’

Last week, while I was sleeping, I dreamed up a horror movie. It involved vampires.

The movie had a prologue set in World War II that showed the origin of the vampires. It apparently also showed their containment — at least, for the next several decades… (Yes, much of my recollection of this dream is vague. So sue me.)

Then the movie switched to the present day. Most of the rest of the story took place in a large modern skyscraper. I dreamed about the vampire menace being unleashed inside the building and the numbers of the contaminated quickly growing. Vampires preyed upon unsuspecting regular people and converted them into the undead. As they threatened to outnumber people, the creatures began attacking openly.

In an odd way, Byzantium, the stylish 2012 feature directed by Neil Jordan, is a coming of age tale about 200-year-old vampires.

One of the pleasing things about the movie is that it doesn’t rush to clarify the relationship between its two main characters. Are the bloodsucking Eleanor Webb and Clara Webb friends or sisters? Are they lovers? Theirs turns out to be a relationship literally unlike any other in history. But the script, which screenwriter Moira Buffini based on her original stage play, takes its time explaining the specifics.

The story is set in motion when a man who seems to understand Clara’s unusual nature strong-arms his way into the flat that Clara (Gemma Arterton) shares with Eleanor (Saoirse Ronan) in a run-down English housing project. Clara responds violently, and the pair flee in the middle of the — presumably autumn — night to a quiet coastal resort town in what I take to be Ireland.

While Clara quickly and efficiently begins plying a familiar trade, prostitution, Eleanor wanders into an assisted-living facility for the elderly, where she draws the interest of an awkward young worker named Frank (Caleb Landry Jones, who to my surprise turns out to be an American actor).

While Eleanor coolly attempts to fend off Frank’s gentle but unwelcome attention, Clara quickly insinuates herself into the life and home of Noel (Daniel Mays), the lonely owner of a bankrupt hotel-cum-boarding house called the Byzantium. By the end of their first full day in the resort town, Clara and Eleanor ensconce themselves in Noel’s large, lavish but ill-kempt property.